Sports
Darsha expresses shock as budding athletes denied medals

Western Province Schools Athletics Championships
by Reemus Fernando
Asian Games medallist and Olympian Damayanthi Darsha, who witnessed the ongoing Western Province Schools Athletics Championships, expressed shock over the highly disorganized manner in which the four-day event is being conducted at the Sugathadasa Stadium.
The Department of Education, Western Province, the organisers of the event, which began on Sunday, were failing in their duty to conduct events on schedule and, in a shocking turn of events, the budding school athletes, who win podium places, are made to return home without medals as the Department of Education of Western Province is doing away with the aged-old custom, in a bid to cut costs.
“Certificates and medals are a huge motivation for young athletes. Medals will keep them engaged in this sport. I am really shocked to see these athletes being denied the opportunity to take home what they deserve,” Darsha who had her first medal success at these championships, told The Island yesterday.
“It is not an easy task to win a medal at the Western Province Schools Athletics Championships.
“This is a major championship in a young athlete’s career. They deserve appreciation for what they achieve. It is disappointing to see athletes getting down from the podium without medals,” Darsha, who is also a coach, said.

Damayanthi Darsha
“It is not only the medals, the way they conduct the event itself is appalling. I have not seen such a disorganized event during my entire career. How long have the athletes have to wait, after warming up, before they come under starters orders. And the way they had scheduled events without giving the athletes some rest in between is also harmful for young athletes,” said Darsha who is also a vice president of Sri Lanka Athletics, the governing body for track and field in the country.
With the organisers opting for fewer qualified judges (from Sri Lanka Athletics) to save funds they had left room for major errors.
On Sunday, athletes competing in a lower age category sprint event had to run 65 metres instead of 60 metres due to erroneous measuring.
In some middle distance events (800m) the heats and the final were conducted without adequate rest.
On Monday, the organisers advanced the Under 18 boys’ 400 metres final which was to be held on Tuesday only to postpone it after the athletes had warmed up.
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Shanaka in trouble with SLC after two matches in two countries in one day

Sri Lanka Cricket will conduct an inquiry over allegations that Dasun Shanaka left a first-class match in Colombo hours early, in order to play for the Dubai Capitals in the UAE that same evening on February 2.
The board’s chargesheet to Shanaka includes the allegation that first-class match referee Wendell Labrooy had been led to believe Shanaka had a concussion, in order to approve a substitute. This is according to SLC CEO Ashley de Silva, who told ESPNcricinfo “SSC [Shanaka’s first-class club] would probably be conducting their own inquiry as well”.
Shanaka, however, told ESPNcricinfo that de Silva and others had been aware that he would have to leave the first-class match early. According to Shanaka, he had left the ground soon after being dismissed on the third morning of the the three-day match. He said he visited a doctor at a nearby hospital first, to inspect a blow to the neck he had sustained while playing a sweep shot that morning, and then headed off to Dubai to play that evening’s T20, after a separate physiotherapist had cleared him to play.
“SLC and the club knew I had to leave,” Shanaka said. “I only came back because there was a request from the SSC to play this first-class match. But my other team wanted me back, as I’d helped win two games for them earlier in the tournament.”
For SLC, however, exiting a league game early, particularly with suspect reasons, is problematic, not that it has yet been established if there actually was any pretense involved. The board CEO de Silva explained that while Lasith Malinga had also famously played a Mumbai Indians match and then broken records in a domestic match in a match at Pallekele the next day, Malinga had played until both those matches reached their conclusion.
On the surface, though, Shanaka’s looks like a spectacular cricketing feat. He had been among the three players called back from the ILT20 by the SSC for their fixture against Moors Sports Club in the Major League Tournament, as SSC strove to avoid relegation. Shanaka had played the first two days of this three-dayer, bowling 21 overs and taking a wicket in Moors’ innings, before finishing on 39 not out at the end of day two.
Day three is when the absconding is alleged to have occurred, but before he left, Shanaka crashed a further 84, hitting 123 off 87 balls in total, 88 of those runs coming in boundaries. Though SSC’s innings ended not long after he got out, Shanaka did not bowl an over in the next Moors innings (the third of the match), and played no further part in the game.
What is clear is that several hours later, he appeared for the Capitals in Dubai, and struck 34 off 12 at No. 5, helping his team to 217 against Abu Dhabi Knight Riders. He didn’t bowl in the Knight Riders’ innings either, however.
Capitals would go on to win the ILT20, Shanaka playing three further games for them. He has not appeared for SSC since February 2.
[Cricinfo]
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